1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording device and in particular, to an image recording device which utilizes a fixing device in which after a light and heat sensitive recording material is developed, the developed image is fixed by irradiation of light.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional optical recording system such as silver halide photography, photographing is carried out using a photographic film such as a negative film or a positive film. Then, the photographic film is developed and a processing, for making a latent image visible, which latent image was formed by optically exposing the image information recorded on the developed photographic film with light, is carried out upon a recording material such as a printing paper or a plain paper, so that a print is obtained. In the following explanation, the photographic film refers to as a film which is subjected to development processing after a subject is photographed such that a negative image or a positive image thereon is made visible. Thus, in order to obtain a print from the photographic film, it is necessary to form an image using the image information recorded on the photographic film onto a recording material. Recently, the image information is made into an image using a recording material which does not require materials for development-and-fixation such as a processing solution, a toner or the like. Examples of such a recording material include a light and heat sensitive recording material in which a latent image is obtained by optically exposing the image information with light and the latent image is made visible by heat-development and then fixed.
Such a light and heat sensitive recording material is sequentially subjected to a recording processing for optically exposing the image information with light to record a latent image, a development processing for making visible (i.e., developing) the latent image by heat-processing and a fixing processing for fixing the developed image by irradiation of light. If this light and heat sensitive recording material is used, a color image can be obtained by superposing, on a support, monochrome light and heat sensitive recording layers which form colors such as yellow, magenta and cyan.
However, in order to obtain the color image, at least the recording processing and the fixing processing require the irradiation of light. In most cases, the energy to be applied, i.e., the exposure amount in the recording processing is different from that in the fixing processing. Thus, independent light sources are used for the respective processings, so that sufficient space for the light sources is required. As a result, the device becomes large.
In view of the aforementioned facts, an object of the present invention is to provide an image recording device which is compact and by which a light and heat sensitive recording material is appropriately recorded and fixed to obtain an image with high quality.
In order to accomplish the object of the present invention, in accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for recording an image on light and heat sensitive recording material, the device comprises (a) a light source which irradiates light when operated; (b) a light separator which receives light irradiated from the light source, separates the light by color and irradiates color separated light towards light and heat sensitive recording material when disposed in the device, and forms a latent image on the recording material; and (c) a guide disposed for receiving light irradiated from the light source and which directs unseparated light towards the light and heat sensitive recording material and fixes an image formed thereon.
In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for recording an image on light and heat sensitive recording material, wherein the recording material includes layers sensitive to light color hues different from other layers, the device comprises (a) a light source which irradiates light comprising a mixture of color hues when operated; (b) optical recording apparatus including a light separator which separates light received from the light source into light consisting essentially of color hues corresponding to the light and heat sensitive recording layers, and which records a latent image on the recording material with the separated light; (c) a heat developer which subjects the light and heat sensitive recording material to heating and develops the latent image; and (d) fixing apparatus including a guide which guides unseparated light from the light source towards the light and heat sensitive recording material and fixes the developed image.
In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image recording method comprising the steps of: (a) color separating light irradiated from a light source and then irradiating the light onto a light and heat sensitive recording material to thereby form a latent image on the recording material; (b) heating said light and heat sensitive recording material to thereby form a developed image from the latent image; (c) directing unseparated light from said light source with a guide onto the developed image to thereby fix the developed image.
In accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a device for recording an image on light and heat sensitive recording material, the device comprises (a) a conveyor operable for conveying light and heat sensitive recording material to at least two different positions; (b) a light source which irradiates light when operated; (c) a light separator which receives light irradiated from the light source, separates the light by color and irradiates color separated light towards light and heat sensitive recording material when at one of the positions for forming a latent image thereon; and (d) a guide disposed for receiving light irradiated from the light source and directing the light towards light and heat sensitive recording material when at the other position for fixing an image thereon.
In the image recording device of the present invention, a light and heat sensitive recording material is exposed with light by an optical recording device, so that a latent image is formed. Then, the latent image is developed by a heat-development device. Thereafter, the developed image is fixed by a fixing device which irradiates light onto the image. The light and heat sensitive recording material includes light and heat sensitive recording layers. By being exposed with light and being heated, the exposed and unexposed portions of light and heat sensitive recording layers form color. There are a plurality of light and heat sensitive recording layers provided in order to form a color image. At a time of the exposure for recording a latent image, light which is separated by a light separating device and has color hues corresponding to the respective light and heat sensitive recording layers is irradiated. Thus, a latent image is recorded on each of the light and heat sensitive recording layers by the irradiation of light of the corresponding color hue. The latent image is developed by, for example, heating. The developed image is fixed by the fixing device. The fixing device irradiates white light, so that the developed image is fixed. The white light is guided to a photo-fixing position by a guide member. The white light which has not been separated into light having color hues corresponding to the light and heat sensitive recording layers can be easily guided so as to be used for the photo-fixing. Accordingly, a light source for the optical recording and a light source for the photo-fixing need not to be provided independently and a single light source can be used for both the optical recording and the photo-fixing.
The guide member is provided at a side of the white light source from which light is irradiated. The guide member is formed by a reflecting member which can switch a propagation direction of white light between a propagation direction at a time of the optical recording and a propagation direction at a time of the photo-fixing. Examples of the reflecting member include a mirror and a beam splitter. For example, at a time of the optical recording, white light is set to move directly to the position of exposure. Then, by inserting the reflecting member onto a path of the white light, the direction of the white light can be easily switched from the propagation direction at a time of the optical recording (i.e., the direction from the white light source to the position of exposure) to the propagation direction at a time of the photo-fixing (i.e., the reflecting direction).
The light separating device is provided at a side of the white light source from which light is irradiated, and includes an exposure amount controller which controls an exposure amount of the separated light. The optical recording device records a latent image with light obtained by separating white light. The amount of exposure of light irradiated onto the light and heat sensitive recording material may be controlled by the exposure amount controller. Thus, the exposure amount when a latent image is recorded can be appropriately controlled. The exposure amount controller may be formed by a transmitting member which separates and transmits light into light having color hues corresponding to the respective light and heat sensitive recording layers. An optical filter may be used as the transmitting member. For example, a rotating filter in which a liquid crystal shutter array and a plurality of optical filters are arranged in a rotating direction may be used.